Railroad-track securer.



No- 717,818- Y APAAR-:NMD JAN. a, 190s.

J. H. CROWLEY. RAILROAD TRACK SRGURRR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

i l 4v f5' A TTHNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN HENRY CROWLEY, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA, .AS-SIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOSAMUEL F. SNIVELY, OF DULIITH, MINNESOTA.

RAILROAD-TRACK steunen.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 717,818, dated January1903.

l Application filed March 8, 1902. Serial No. 97,247. (No modal.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN HENRY CROWLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Duluth, in the countyV of St. Louis and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new -and useful Improvements in Railroad-TrackSecurers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

The object of myinvention is to provide a securer adapted to keep therails of a railroadtrack from spreading apart or from turning orrolling.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specication, in which similar characters of Yreference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a plan view of a railroad-track itted with my improved securer and showing one rail in position, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same,a rail being shown in cross-section; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofthe chair or tie-plate.

The chair or tie-plate l is made of suitable metal and has formed on itsupper face two ribs 2, perpendicular thereto and parallel to each other.The space between these ribs is sufficient to admit a rail, and theheight of said ribs is suflicient to allow them to be bent over to gripthe base-flanges of said rail to form jaws. The ribs starting atalternate edges of the tie-plate l extend rand each terminates justshort of the opposite edges, thus leaving spaces 3 on opposite sides ofthe rail and diagonally disposed to each other. In these spaces arelocated the spike-holes 4, through which spikes 5 are driven into theties, the heads of said spikes being adapted to overlap and grip thebase-flanges of the rails.

In laying a track the chairs or tie-plates 1 are spiked to the ties byspikes 6 driven` through holes 7, located at the four corners of saidtie-plates. Before being spiked down the tie-plates are set to gage, theribs 2 thereon running parallel to the direction of the track. The railsare then placed between these ribs .and secured by bending said ribsover onto the base-flanges of said rails. Then to make the trackabsolutely secure the spikes 5 are driven into the ties, their headsalso gripping 5o said base-flanges. By this arrangement I have a verysecure fastening device. The

rails are gripped by rm substantial jaws eX- tending virtually acrossthe whole width of the plate, said rail at the same time not dependingentirely upon said jaws for its fastening, but having additionalsecurity in the spikes 5, which also grip the rail and are drivendirectly into the tie. The described location of the spikes minimizesthe danger of breaking or splitting the tie, gives a better- 6odistributed gripping area, and prevents that rapid deterioration of thetie due to the mutual proximity of a cluster of spikes.

As a precaution against spreading, especially on curves, I employ inconnection with my tie-plate the tie-rods 8 and 9. In each tie-plate,near one end, is a slot l0,` running parallel to the ribs 2. The metalbetween said slot and the adjacent edge of the/tieplate'is shaped toform an arched member 11, 7o leaving an' archway l2 just large enough toadmit the shank of the tie-rods 8 and 9. The tie-plates are placed onthe ties with said arched members facing the center line of the track.Beforespiking down thetie-plates the 7 5 heads 13 ofV each pair oftie-rods are slipped under the arch-pieces ll and into the slots 10 ofthe respective tie-plates placed on opposite sides of the track. Theends of each pair of rods S 9 are threaded right and left, respec- 8otively, and meet near the centerof the track in the turnbnckles 14.After the track has been set to gage and properly spiked and grippedthese turnbuckles are operated to take up all slack, and a lock-nut 15is screwed 85 up against each turnbuckle to keep it from working loose.

My tie-plate can be easily applied to a track already built by prying upthe rails sufdciently to allow said plates to be slipped bego tweenVsaid rails and the ties, when they can be secured in the manner alreadydescribed.

The advantages of my form of tie-plate will be particularly appreciatedwhen it is necessary to shim under the rails. On account of the jawswhich grip the rails the tie-plates will come up with said rails whenthe latter are lifted, and the shims can be placed under the tie-plateswithout disturbing the ties.

Having thus described my invention, I loo claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. A tie-plate having parallel continuous ribsextending nearly across plate and between which a rail may be placed andsecured by bending down said ribs over the baseilanges of said rail, toform clamping-jaws.

2. A tie-plate having ribs thereon approximately perpendicular to saidplate, and extending from alternate edges thereof, and each terminatingshort of the edge opposite that from which it starts, said ribs being ofa height suciently greater than the baselianges of a rail to allow themto be bent over and to clamp said flanges.

3. A tie-plate having spike-holes disposed diagonally and spacedtransverselya distance, to leave a rail-seat therebetween, the saidholes being adjacent to opposite edges of the plate, the said plate alsohaving bendable ribs rising from the upper surface a height suilcient tobe bent over onto the rail-flanges, the said ribs extending fromopposite edges to points adjacent to the mentioned spikeholes, and lyingin line with said holes.

4. A tie-plate adapted to receive near each of its four corners spikesfor securing said plate, adapted also to receive one spike at each endof the tie-plate adjacent to the rail but on opposite sides thereof,said spikes being adapted to grip the base-flanges of the rail, saidtie-plate having also ribs on each side of the rail running parallelthereto and extending clear across the surface of the tieplate exceptfor spaces diagonally disposed at opposite edges of said tie-plate.

5. A rail-securer consisting of a plate having ribs or jaws thereonbetween which the rails may be placed and secured by bending down saidjaws over the base-flanges of said rail, said plate also having a slotand arched member adapted respectively to receive and hold the head of atie-rod.

6. A rail-securer consisting of a plate having ribs or jaws thereonbetween which the rails may be placed and secured by bending down saidjaws over the base-flanges of said rails, said plate also having a slotand arched member adapted respectively to receive and hold the head of atie-rod, in combination with said tie-rod.

7. In a railroad-track securer, tie-plates having jaws thereon adaptedto grip the baseilanges of a rail, and also having slots and archedmembers adapted respectively to receive and hold the heads of tie-rods,in combination with tie-rods, means for'adjusting said tie-rods, andmeans for holding said rods in adjustment.

8. A tie-rod having a head at each end, in combination with tie-plateshaving slots for receiving said heads and openings to receive thetie-rod, said openings leading out through the under face of the plateand to said slots.

9. In a railroad-track securer, tie-plates adapted to receive near eachof their four corners spikes for secu ring said plate, and adapted alsoto receive one spike at opposite edges of the plate adjacent to and onopposite sides of the rail near enough thereto to grip the base-llangesof said rail, said tie-plates having also ribs on each side of the railparallel thereto, and of a height sufficiently greater than thebase-danges thereof to allow them to be bent over and clamp saidflanges, extending clear across said tie-plate except for a space atalternate ends of said plate, said tie-plates also having each atie-slot and arched member adapted respectively to receive and hold thehead of a tie-rod, in combination with tie-rod, means for adjusting saidtie-rod, and a means for securing the rods so adjusted.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN HENRY CROWLEY.

Witnesses:

W. VAN BRUNT,

AGNES B. REDLOCK.

